CHAPEL HILL, NC - A precise understanding of cellular growth and
movement is the key to developing new treatments for cancer and other
disorders caused by dysfunctional cell behavior. Recent breakthroughs
in genetic medicine have uncovered how genes control whether cellular
proteins are turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ at the molecular level, but much
remains to be understood about how protein signaling influences cell
behavior.

In a paper published today in the journal Nature Cell Biology, a
team led by Denise Montell, PhD, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
describes how researchers used the technique, which controls protein
behavior in cells and animals simply by shining a focused beam of light
on the cells where they want the protein to be active, in live fruit
flies.

“This finding complements an additional collaboration with Anna
Huttenlocher, PhD of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published
earlier this year in the journal Developmental Cell, showing that this
technique could be used to control cell movement in live zebrafish as
well,” said Hahn.

“We have now shown that this technique works in two different living
organisms, providing proof of principle that light can be used to
activate a key protein. In this case the protein controls cell
movement, enabling us to move cells about in animals. This is
particularly valuable in studies where cell movement is the focus of
the research, including embryonic development, nerve regeneration and
cancer metastasis. Now researchers can control where and where
particular proteins are activated in animals, providing a heretofore
inaccessible level of control,” said Hahn.

The new technology is an advance over previous light-directed methods
of cellular control that used toxic wavelengths of light, disrupted the
cell membrane or could switch proteins ‘on’ but not ‘off’. Unlike some
approaches it requires no injection of cofactors or other unnatural
materials into the animals being studied.

The research published today was the work of a team including Montell,
and Xiaobo Wang from Johns Hopkins and Hahn and Yi Wu, PhD, research
assistant professor of pharmacology, both from UNC.

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and
the Cell Migration Consortium.